RSS Feed

AllNaturalSupplements · Posts: 1

Hi everyone, my name is Pennie. I don't want to sound like a newbee, but...... What is a Rss Feed and how to i use it to promote my store?

zickit · Posts: 21857

In simply an RSS feed is a list of your items.
One must have an RSS READER to read the feed.

I did a quick search to find these threads on the subject

Need Help regarding RSS feeds and Yahoo 360 blogs
http://www.ecrater.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=1299

How do you use rss feeds?
http://www.ecrater.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=1367

RSS Feeds
http://www.ecrater.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=230

DID you all notice the RSS feed???
http://www.ecrater.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=213

poopsheet · Posts: 4865

It's a format used by newsreaders, which are simply programs that allow you to keep up with updated content all in one place rather than having to check each individual site.

So if somebody uses a newsreader to, say, keep up with postings at their favorite blogs or newspaper headlines or whatever then they can also add your store's RSS feed if they want to see the new items you add without having to manually check the store every so often.

andreasSecondChanceRomance · Posts: 213

I've read up, but still don't know how to use it. If I go to my category & click on the orange RSS feed button, it brings up a screen that says "subscribe to this RSS feed..." and has a list of Page 1 of my items. What I want to do is get a spreadsheet that I can feed into a site - like google - but there's no option to create a file from the information... I think a lot of us are confused about RSS (based on my reading the forums)... is there a step-by-step guide we can use?

eleganzajewels · Guest

Andrea:

poopsheet · Posts: 4865

eleganzajewels · Guest

Feed4All software will put the file together for you, you can save it as a TXT file or an XMLS file (spreadsheet) file. Once you have created it, and loaded the file to your server, anyone can read it - most specifically, the search engine bots, who are the audience you are really targeting. That's why it's important to submit your feed to as many RSS directories as possible (see above), just as if it was your actual website. It is, after all, a "snapshot" look at your site and products. The more backlinks back to your website, the better!

If you prefer to just make your own spreadsheet, that's no prob, here is a link describing RSS fields, just create the spreadsheet, upload it, and voila, there you are:

http://www.feedforall.com/rss-fields.htm

You know, I never thought of it, but you could cut off a bunch of steps (maybe) by using Google's Spreadsheets and Documents function (go to google.com, log into your account, and look at the list of tools, you'll find it). Seems to me, if you create an "RSS" spreadsheet, and Google hosts it, you won't have to bother FTP'ing or uploading it to a separate server.

Just an idea.